15 Countries This Year

Today I am off on my last business trip of the year – a day trip to Amsterdam – and to say I am tired is an understatement but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Between work and travel I have been to 15 countries this year – 10 were new to the list and five were repeats – and more than anything else, I also moved abroad.  And as I think it would be unfair to rank them, I have ordered the countries in the order that I visited: 

(1) The United Stats of America (residency):  I lived here until April and then moved across the pond but have been back a few times as well.  New York will always be home but it has been a great experience to live somewhere else for the last eight months and counting. 

(2) France x2 – I visited in January for MLK day and again in October.  Paris is a beautiful place and now that I am only a three hour train ride away I expect quite a few more visits in 2019!

(3) Russia In the most unlikely layover I have ever had I went to Moscow in March on my way to a trip to England. I loved exploring Red Square, the Basiclla, and Kremlin.  It was freezing with snow everywhere but as you can tell from the picture below – it was the most beautiful clear-sky day which made all the difference. 

(4) England (residency) – From mid April to today I have lived in London  and have gone back and forth more times than I can count, thank goodness for my residency permit and Known Traveler (the UK version of Global entry).  I have only been out one weekend to explore the countryside but hope to do more next year. 

(5) Portugal – I went on a 5-day girls trip with my Mom to Lisbon, Sintra, and Porto and my only regret was that we did not have more time! I love exploring with my Mom and it was a wonderful mini-break, I will definitely be back! 

(6) Bahamas – Having only moved to England a few weeks before it was a bit nuts that I flew all the way from London to the Bahamas but one of my oldest friends was getting married and I would not have missed it for the world. Plus, the sunshine was quite nice. 

(7) Germany (x7)  I went for the first time in May and the last time last week – six trips were for work and one trip to Berlin for fun over the bank holiday in May.  There is so much more to the country than Berlin and Stuttgart and I am sure in 2019 I will have many more trips to explore!

(8) Belgium – Over the Summer I jumped on a train one Friday after work to visits Brussels and Bruges, and loved all of the charm, the mix of languages, and the delicious food – see below. 

(9) Tanzania – If you have not explored my African Safari series thank you must go check it out – there were so many amazing places I went during my week in Tanzania in July and shots like the one below are only the tip of the iceberg.  

(10) Kenya – This was the second part of our two week African Safari and it was absolutely gorgeous to see so many incredible animals in real life – we had the best time on our family holiday, in face, a picture from this day is actually our Christmas card!

(11) Netherlands (x5) – Twice for fun, three times for work (counting today) and it is such a charming city.  Having been in both the Winter and the summer, I highly recommend the Summer and am putting together my recommendations of the top things to do in the dutch capital. 

(12) Morocco – An absolutely incredible experience to visit Northern Africa and during my time in Morocco I went to Casablanca, Marrakech, Ouarzazate, and spent time in the Sahara Dessert. 

(13) Spain . – I went last year but a long weekend it Barcelona with my boyfriend and it was as a blast.  The reason you have not seen a blog post yet is because on the Morocco trip just before my DSLR broke in a sandstorm so my only photos from the October weekend were from my iPhone. 

(14)  Scotland – I had to go to Scotland to present at a conference at St. Andrews for three days and added on two days in Edinburgh before  – I promise more photos will be coming soon! 

(15) Romania – A long weekend in Romania was a bit crazy to squeeze in at the start of December but I had planned it before all of my work trips to Germany.  There were two things I really wanted to do – see the castles in Trasnlyvania and explore the Christmas market in Bucharest, both of which were lovely! 

There you have it – 15 countries for the year.  How many have you been to?